M
Michael Slater
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Running south from Alice Springs is a 230km road/track/railbed that
reaches a tiny aboriginal community. Each June the Finke Desert Race
(http://www.finkedesertrace.com) is held as a two-day
there-and-back-again race.
The drivers are incredible. The fastest bikes and buggies finish a
leg in only a little over two hours. Driving it in a stock landcruiser
might take the better part of a day if you are taking your time and
enjoying the scenery.
Anyway, when we drove it last year we recorded the route with a GPS.
That's good for plotting locations, and to a lesser degree speed.
Afterwards I was daydreaming about having a device that would record
the severity of the road. The route is punishing and has a huge range
of surfaces (gravel roadways, sandy berms and dunes, giant 'whoops'
[imagine a washboard road where the washboards are three feet high]).
What would be an appropriate instrument to measure the "severity" of
the ride? Ideally it'd be a small instrument that dumped telemetry to
my laptop through a serial port. Knowing nothing about the subject, I
thought perhaps three accelerometers measuring three dimensionally
would work. Are those 'g-forces' what you'd want to measure, or is
the desired measurement the 'vibration' of the ride? Any
suggestions/ideas how to turn a daydream into something that works?
Regards
reaches a tiny aboriginal community. Each June the Finke Desert Race
(http://www.finkedesertrace.com) is held as a two-day
there-and-back-again race.
The drivers are incredible. The fastest bikes and buggies finish a
leg in only a little over two hours. Driving it in a stock landcruiser
might take the better part of a day if you are taking your time and
enjoying the scenery.
Anyway, when we drove it last year we recorded the route with a GPS.
That's good for plotting locations, and to a lesser degree speed.
Afterwards I was daydreaming about having a device that would record
the severity of the road. The route is punishing and has a huge range
of surfaces (gravel roadways, sandy berms and dunes, giant 'whoops'
[imagine a washboard road where the washboards are three feet high]).
What would be an appropriate instrument to measure the "severity" of
the ride? Ideally it'd be a small instrument that dumped telemetry to
my laptop through a serial port. Knowing nothing about the subject, I
thought perhaps three accelerometers measuring three dimensionally
would work. Are those 'g-forces' what you'd want to measure, or is
the desired measurement the 'vibration' of the ride? Any
suggestions/ideas how to turn a daydream into something that works?
Regards
